POV. Unknown
Looking around, I see dozens of mana crystals were laid out in a circle around me.
Their glow Being the only light source washed everything a shade of electric blue while casting long shadows.
I was at the cusp of level 175 and even so my body shook a little at the sheer amount of mana I could sense.
Ding: Mana Sense ll has levelled up 26-27
"Figures that it would level now"
Feeling a thrum in the air from all the mana gathered here, made me realise it's the most I've ever felt.
I know this trip is folly but I don't have a choice the collar ensures that.
I've learned to not test the bounds of the collars control.
"SLAVE!" The word hit me like hammer to anvil, Forcing me to straighten my back and look.
"Are you ready to start" Rumbled the Warden of the Northern Wind seeing that he had my attention
"Yes master, this slave is ready"
"Hmm. If you survive this slave, I might just see to it that you are freed from your shackles" He stroked the stubble on his sculpted jaw as if pondering something
"They would free me after after all this time?." My eyes open wide.
"No! It's must be a ruse?" Frowning, I looked at him again. Not willing to put my faith in just a few words.
"Ha Haaa, Not so easy to please it seems" He laughed at my frown
"Do well today and I'll see to it that you become an Entrant to the Circle. You'll still be beholden to to the Inner circle but, otherwise" his eyes glinted in the electric blue of the mana stones.
"you would be free from your current circumstances" He finished
"A Different flavour of slavery" That's what he was offering me.
As an entrant, I will still have to follow orders but they wouldn't be suicidal as they are now.
"A member instead of a tool" I shook from the memory of the southern wind.
"Now quiet your mind, You can take you're time but you must begin the ritual" he said with a standing straight with his arms behind his back
His words focused my thoughts.
Before I began I once more looked at the room. The heavily Enchanted steel double doors with two slaves as guards naturally drew my eyes.
It was only entrance and exit, but I had no thoughts of running, without orders the collar wouldn't let me take a single step without inflicting excruciating pain.
The room was 70m long, 50m wide and 4m tall with no visible supports or columns, long stretches of empty stone walls with the lacklustre blue lighting made the room dreadfully gloomy.
The only feature in the room besides the door being is large enchanted circle that I'm standing in the centre of.
The mana crystals were almost spilling out of the outermost circle, the inner circle being filled with complicated whisker thin spellwork, the enchanted circle being made of polished mithril lines embedded into the smooth stone floor.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The circle was in the centre of the room and the large armoured form of the Northern wind was between me and the door.
"Beginning" I called out to the northern wind
I took and quick breath and then closed my eyes and sunk my mind and mana into the enchanted circle below me.
I reached out with my senses and connected my mana to the blinding mana of the crystals and gave a sharp mental tug.
Like the breaking of a dam, the mana started to siphon itself into the enchanted circle, which gave me a little bit of time to open my eyes.
I opened my them to see a beautiful silver light coming from the mithril lines, the light growing as the mana crystals disintegrated giving up their mana to the circle.
The Northern wind was still just standing there watching impassively, no doubt somehow recording the results of the ritual.
"maybe a magical tool of some kind"
It gave me shivers looking into his eyes, it was as if I was a hunk of meat on a chopping block and he was deciding the best way to dice me.
Closing My eyes again to get rid of the shivers I once again focused on the circle.
The all the mana and spellwork was for 1 thing and that was to empower and set the destination of my highest levelled skill Engorged Portal.
Engorged portal III level 52
I Feed this spell with mana to open a portal to another location. Mana cost dependant on distance, channel.
II By feeding this spell more mana you can stabilize in from disruptions. Mana cost dependant on strength of disruption.
III Engorge the start of this spell to punch through spatial barriers. Mana cost dependant on strength of barrier.
The ritual was needed to channel the insane amount mana from the crystals into me and to set the destination of where the portal forms where I was just to guide the mana into my spell.
The only thing that will protect me from channelling so much mana is my rare class Engorged spatial mage Level 99
It gives a nice bonus to the strength of my mana channels, which means I can channel more mana without getting mana burn.
But with the amount of mana I'm being forced to work with I'm certain to get a bad case of mana burn anyways.
The target for the portal is the Fae realm, The autumn court to be specific.
Something about the Northern wind having a grudge with a fae, nobody knows the specifics.
All the mana in the circle was waiting I grabbed it with my mana and pulled it towards me, the circle began to pump the mana into my body and I controlled it through my channels.
The mana flowed into the channels leading from my feet through my body to my hands, which I was hold in front of me and into the spell.
I felt my mana channels bloat and almost burst before I controlled the amount I was channelling.
"AAaagh" It felt as if my Blood was on fire, but this was not even close to being as bad at disobeying the collar so I grit my teeth and continued on.
I was channelling so much mana that I was visibly smoking and arcing mana from some of the mana channels close to my skin.
I would be a charred corpse by now without the bonuses from my class.
A completely black pin hole opened in front of me, air started to rush in to the hole and mana arks where jumping of it into the air, ground and into me causing further pain.
As soon as the pinhole portal to nowhere appeared the targeting part of the ritual began, a silver spell circle appeared around the pin hole and spun clockwise.
With the targeting part of the ritual was starting, the pin hole took on a dark blue colour and stopped pulling in air.
The portal also started to widen, it got as big as a dinner plate before the sparks coming of it stopped.
By this point I was barely standing up.
The Targeting was done, the spell circle stopped rotating and expanded pushing the spell lines into a thin border around a empty 2m wide circle.
In the centre of that empty circle floated the dinnerplate sized portal which was still a dark blue colour, with the targeting done all that was left was to push through.
With eyes closed I didn't even see it coming, I sensed it though.
Mana suddenly moved towards the portal without me having to channel it.
"That's not right" stopping the channel I cracked open my eyes.
The mana gathered around the portal and filled the circle before it got so dense you could visibly see the light bending around it.
"CRACK" with a mighty crack space shattered with the sound of a broken glass
"That's definitely not right" I felt the spell connect with its destination.
The portal opened wide, past the 2m spellguide.
With spatial cracks bordering it, it connected to its destination
sucking in matter like a black hole, air made a loud gale like sound as in rushed to fill the confines of the portal
The smooth stone directly bellow was also ripped from the ground, which was terribly loud.
Pretty much unconscious at this point I couldn't do anything to stop myself from being sucked into the portal.
I got one look at the kaleidoscope of colours on the inside of the portal before the mana burn and jostling made me throw up and pass out.
POV. Fae King, autumn Court
So enthralled by the Fae dancing to the merry jig that I almost didn't notice the unfortunate Human trying to intrude on our august ground.
Paying a little attention, I decided that this is the perfect opportunity to spruce up a sickly sapling.
So with a wave of my hand I sent the interloper away with a little present for the sapling, I make sure to it that he lands at his destination safely.
My left eye twitches as he lands with a splash.
"sigh, let it be know that the autumn court is as gracious as it is kind."
"Hmmm, Humans like dogs right?" I nod to my self.
With another wave of my hand I fix that little mess.